Eradicating the Practice of Corruption in Businesses Case Study

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Upholding Ethical Business Practices in an Organization

The Volkswagen emissions scandal has been dubbed the "diesel dupe" and the corporation may face charges of manslaughter over their rigged tests of diesel emission. This charge will be applied if the legal advice suggests could be successful. It has been raised that thousands of people who die from diesel vehicles as the main cause is air pollution due to the release of nitrogen oxide (NOx). The lab tests produced dramatically less NOx pollution of Volkswagen and the management admitted that it added "defeat devices" to millions of its vehicles (Saarinen). The latest news about the scandal confirms that the vehicles fitted with EA288 engines of Euro 5 and Euro 6 were not affected by the scandal emissions.

The report of Germans suggests that older versions of 1.6-litre and 2.0-litre with EA288 engines, which is a derivative of EA189 affected engine, were built with defeat devices to cheat. As such, they were found to cheating Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) emissions tests in America, and this sparked the emissions scandal of VW. The diesel scandal was thought to apply to car fitted with engines of EA189 between 2009 and 2015, but now the U.S. authorities and EPA are arguing otherwise. EPA uncovered VW's cheating software. Together with U.S. authorities, they are evaluating whether the auxiliary device was installed to cheat during the emissions tests alone (Saarinen).

The computer software installed sensed test scenarios through speed monitoring, engine operation, air pressure and steering wheel position. Therefore, under controlled laboratory conditions that involved putting the cars on a stationary test rig, the software placed the vehicle into a safety mode. As such, the engines ran below normal performance and power. However, once they were on the road engines switched from test mode and the emission of nitrogen oxide from the engine was evident. The pollution from the diesel cars were up to forty times what EPA regulations allow (Hotten). The German automaker is facing billions of dollars in litigation and fines and the additional cost of fixing eleven million diesel cars around the globe. The owners are also affected by the scandal, and the costs apply to those selling VW diesel cars. It is expected that the resale value of the affected cars will fall. To many customers, this is a lack of consideration on the part of VW. Online shoppers have also reduced recalling how the company had staked its image around its operations being environment-friendly. Through this, the company managed to plant a forest and build a certified car factory that was the first green construction.

The social processes factors that have contributed to ongoing organizational corruption include compromise, cooptation and incrementalism (Anand, Ashforth and Joshi 10). These tactics have left many individuals dishonest because they do not value integrity in their actions and behavior. The other aspect under scrutiny is how the rich people behave in an unethical manner and get away with their foul acts and or behaviors (Schiffman 1). It is true that with money, one can do anything they please, but it results in other people or individuals suffering directly and or indirectly. The actions of the rich have left many people puzzled of whether having money leaves one eccentric and inhuman. We can say that in today's society, people are ignorant and overlook their transgressions, and this has created ethical lapses in the corporate world because they are intractable and pervasive.

Section II

Most people involved in unethically activities in multinational corporations argue that it was an unmistakable malfeasance. However, for Volkswagen that was not the case because of its nature of activities in the company. Evidently, this was not a mistake, an error, poor judgment or an ethical lapse, but an intentionally designed program. Later, the execution and violated the law in both letter and spirit making it the highest level of ethical violation. Those to whom Volkswagen owed honesty duty, it intentionally deceived. By fraudulently misrepresenting its product (automobiles) to have better qualities unlike its competitors, it achieved its goal of obtaining profits. Most significantly, their intentions were chosen carefully, and the operations manager went out of its way to achieving success by committing wrong.

Most people are shocked by the levels of brazenness and conniving actions where Volkswagen to stoop so low, unlike BP actions or GM. It being a highly sophisticated and technical operation, it managed to teach the emissions system how to distinguish between road travel, typical idling, and idling during the emissions test. As such, no spin can mitigate this fact and management cannot claim confusion or misunderstanding or communication failures.

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The Volkswagen scandal has brought consumers the reality of the existence of corporate malfeasance.

The wrongdoings of Volkswagen were exacerbated by companies' CEOs response and the former CEO of Volkswagen, Martin Winterkorn, acknowledged his incompetence and leadership failure. He claimed that he was unaware of his employees' actions, which is not true.

Volkswagen's inappropriate goals of chasing sales targets, obtaining new contracts and acquiring market share could have led to the creation of pressure. Thus, individuals decide to be unethical and lack appropriate reward systems. Some multinational companies reward results and do not question how the objectives were attained, and this fosters the prosperity of unethical behaviors. The inappropriate testing of diesel vehicles led to the conducting of research where it ascertained that nine out of ten cars on EU roads exceed the limits of pollution. Therefore, the current testing for emissions allows unethical behavior to go unchecked.

The other tactic is the denial of injury where they claim that no one is injured or harmed by actions made and hence, this is not corruption. The employment of this rationalization includes organizational theft and assumptions made are about the presence of insurance policy that covers damages. Additionally, organizations claim they have the ability to recover the costs, or those damages that are slight. As such, these tactics present themselves in situations rendered less offensive as they are compared to those that are of extreme forms. Denial of a victim is another tactic that employs victim exploitation as a form of revenge. For instance, those stealing from their organizations do so to revenge the unfair treatment accorded to them by their employers. Hence, they achieve this by depersonalizing themselves yet a faceless statistic.

Social weighting tactic involves legitimacy of actors and selective social comparisons where perpetrators look for examples that are far worse than what they intended to do. Hence, this is a motivator for them to engage in corrupt activities and behavior. An appeal to higher loyalties focuses on going beyond neutralizing negative corruption and valuing it (Anand, Ashforth and Joshi 13).

In co-optation, rewards are used that induces the change of attitude for an individual toward unethical behaviors. Thereby, organizations are engaging in co-optation because it suits their self-interest (Anand, Ashforth and Joshi 14). In organizations, power non-consciously activates biases and personal goals, guides information processing and behavior, which are rationalized in socially desirable terms.

Incrementalism socialization processes occur when newcomers in an organization are induced by other employees to perform in acts that are slightly deviant, but create cognitive dissonance. Gradually, the individual moves up the corruption ladder and eventually becomes an expert in performing corrupt activities and behaviors. Compromise becomes evident when individuals give in to corruption as an attempt to resolve dilemmas that are pressing, role conflicts and other problems that are intractable (Anand, Ashforth and Joshi 15).

Section III

Volkswagen scandal could have been prevented by inducing ethical or responsible culture to the organization through sharing it and will see to it that a way is paved on how things in the business environment will work. The problem may lie in department or company cultures that cause certain individuals to act in certain unethical ways. By defining business practices, organizations can foster awareness among their employees through training and hence, puncture the ideological balloon that has almost left the organization handicap. The other way to prevent unethical behaviors is using performance evaluations because they can go beyond numbers as it removes ambiguity and biases from the process of appraisal. As such, risk-averse behaviors are decreased, and value is held regarding behavior monitoring.

The ethical environment of any business needs to be nurtured through the adoption of a code of ethics that is a badge of morality. This can be achieved if a company has an independent company representative to discuss arising issues. Hence, allows employees to have access to the mechanism. The perspective taken by customers and stakeholders holds a great deal in the smooth running of operations because it culminates down to nurturing an environment that is free of corruption. Besides, having strong verification procedures replacing the code-compliance during key activities helps organization nurture an environment that is ethical. Organizations need top management to be ethical in all their endeavors of running the organization because it reflects on their personality and behavior overall. It is vital for the top management to stand by the ethics of….....

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